Author: Kourtney

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Last week while on vacation, my Fitbit band broke. The Fitbit itself was perfectly fine, but the band tore completely from the frame. With little choice, I decided to pack it away and deal with purchasing a new band when I got home.

Here’s how the rest of vacation went:

  • I went on to read, talk to my husband and listen to music while sitting at the beach for several full days in a row, all without any knowledge of how few steps I was taking. I never took any of the long walks that I normally would and surprised myself that I could sit for so many consecutive hours without back pain. I have no regrets.
  • I occasionally wondered what my resting heart rate was and if it was dropping from my leisurely days or rising from the increased enjoyment of island cocktails. With no data, I just decided to assume it was dropping and there was nothing to tell me otherwise.
  • I woke up each morning without any information to judge the quality of my sleep. I did none of my usual wondering what caused so little deep sleep or why I woke up so much. If I felt great, which I did, I just assumed the missing data would have shown me a beautiful graph with perfect trends for a woman my age.
  • Finally, I wondered what time it was, a lot. A whole lot. I kept looking at my wrist and then having to dig my phone out of my beach bag instead. I’m not sure why I kept doing that because for the most part I had no schedule to follow and nowhere to be. Clearly, I had a hard time just letting the day slip away without tracking it.

Surprisingly, I had more fun when I went untracked.

This week’s intention

What I learned from my unplanned Fitbit experiment was that seeking to constantly improve doesn’t always lead to our best life experience. I’m glad my band broke and I might not replace it. I haven’t decided yet.

And while I’m not suggesting we stop trying to improve our health or know what time it is, I am suggesting that constantly seeking to improve can block our natural movement toward rest, fun and play. It definitely was for me.

My intention is to invite more unplanned time and play into my life.

So this week, I want to encourage you to take a look at the various goals and improvements you are making, and consider if they might be interfering with your ability to fully enjoy the sacred life you are trying to progress.

Do at least one thing this week that has no worldly value, but makes your heart happy anyway. Mediate and journal on the value of play in your life.

Have fun and see you next week!

Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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Imagine walking into your kitchen and seeing your refrigerator covered in the artwork of your life. I’m not talking about actual drawings or paintings (unless you happen to be an artist), but imagine snapshots of the things you’ve done so far in life displayed in symbolic form.

What would you find on your refrigerator?

What are you proud of?

If you are like most adults, you might choose accomplishments, important relationships, or major milestones. You might think of a goal surpassed, a love nurtured, or a dream realized. Basically, you’ll think of your successes.

But children honor their work in a different way. They are proud of any creation that is uniquely theirs. Children don’t need to be acclaimed an artist, win an award, or sell their artwork to validate that it is fabulous. They just know in their hearts that it is.

All of the things we do make up the work of our lives, and most of it will never produce fortune or public praise. Celebrate it anyway.

This week’s intention

In the “real world,” we learn to judge the value of our work by a narrow set of criteria—did it make money, did enough people notice it, is it something everyone seems to want.

But this week, our goal is to tap into our inner child and rekindle the joy and pride that comes from putting our God-given hand and heart prints all over something and deeming it glorious, no matter what.

My intention is to honor the work of my life.

This is not the week to critique your goals. This is not the week to celebrate the things everybody already knows you’ve accomplished. This is the week, to reflect on the many small, unrecognized, or so far unsuccessful things you have created and celebrate them. We honor our lives when we appreciate the totality of it—the seemingly successful moments and the equality beautiful times of practice, or even failure.

In the next few days, make time to journal about your ability to honor your work and thank God for the skills and talents that continue to serve you. Let your inner child celebrate your work with pride this week. You’ll spark greater creativity and tenacity if you do.

See you next week!

Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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This week’s post contains sample content from my Spring 2019 newsletter. If you’d like to receive the next full edition (Summer 2019) please sign up here.

Welcome to spring!

If you’re like me, you can barely wait for the blooming to begin.

And that’s a common theme in life.

We want the fruits of our labor, but without having to endure the slow pace of progress.

Spring, however, is thrilling from beginning to end. We get excited at the mere suggestion of change and how it pulls us out of the cold winter. We cherish each step that takes us from early spring and delivers us into the magnificent bounty of summer.

Our theme for this season centers on the gorgeous pace of growth – when it starts, how it develops, and the point in which it fully takes hold and blooms. 

The section below contains a key seasonal exercise to help you embrace the slow yet magical process of change.

May you have a whole-hearted and transformative spring!

Take care,
Kourtney

This season’s exercise

Fully bloomed flowers do not look at all like the seeds they sprouted from and have to adjust to life above the surface. Anything that grows must change.

–Working Whole

Capture the pace of progress

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Observe growth. Collect pictures. Track changes.

Our exercise for this season is meant to help us notice and appreciate the perfectly timed and never rushed pace of growth.

  • Identify something around you that is growing (maybe a plant, bush, flower, tree, animal, or baby).
  • Start taking pictures in regular intervals (every day if possible, but at least once a week).
  • Look for differences between the pictures. Take time to notice even small changes and capture them in your next photo.
  • Journal about the new growth you see, reflect on the pace of change, and meditate on the seasons of life.

I’d love to see your pictures. Feel free to tag me on social media or send them directly via email. You can always find me here.

See you soon!

Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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In today’s world, it’s a challenge to simply keep up with all of our appointments. We need to be in work meetings, at school plays, visit the dentist, get our annual checkups, celebrate the milestones of our friends and family, and so on. Many of us have more than one calendar to track work, family, and individual appointments. It can feel as if we are living two, three, even four separate lives.

And while it’s normal to play different roles in life, we thrive when we are connected to the brilliance of our one and only soul. On a deeper level, we should only be living one multifaceted and sacred life.

It is a myth that our work lives are relegated to our professional lives. Our work lives are inextricably tied with our personal experiences. A separate and isolated professional life does not exist.

 —Working Whole

This week’s intention

A life that separates the person from the professional does not stem from wholeness. Separation is draining and ineffective; you want to bring your full self into work and back home again. The only way to do that is to get (and stay) connected spiritually to the part of you that does not change based on environment or role.

My intention is to deepen my spiritual connection.

Take time this week to access your priorities.

  • Have you been preoccupied with the management of your separate lives?
  • How committed have you been to your spiritual practice lately?
  • If you looked at your task list and priorities would you see time for soul work?

If you suspect that you have wandered away from your higher goals, this is the week to start realigning your thoughts, habits, and life. What that means in practical terms is that you need to make more time to pray, mediate, journal, attend services, study, or do whatever it is that you do to reconnect with your soul. That is our only focus this week.

May you experience a sweet renewal and I’ll see you soon.

Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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We don’t all need the same things in our lives, at the same time. Sometimes I’m ready to pursue a new project, and other times, I’m dead tired and in need of rest.

While the goal of this community is to help you reflect on one topic each week, some week’s will speak to your unique needs more than others.

This week’s intention

Below you’ll find a list of links to recent posts so you can decide which one best fits your desire for this week.

What are you in need of?

Take a moment to read the list and then follow the link to set your chosen intention.

I need…

Please reach out to me if there’s something you need this week, but don’t see it listed above. I know it will inspire a future post.

And be sure to sign up for my newsletter, if you haven’t already, as the next quarterly issue (Spring!) comes out on Wednesday. We all get way too many emails so I only send four newsletters a year. But those four are really good!

See you soon.

Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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Who do you turn to when you need advice? Often times we seek guidance from others, but expertise and insight are things we all have.  The hard part is taking the time to connect with, listen to, and then trust our own wisdom.

My first book, Working Whole was published six days ago. It’s a book about how to unite your spiritual beliefs with your work. Last week especially, I’ve had to be deliberate about taking my own advice so I could live and work with surrender and patience. I had to keep reminding myself, several times a day, to trust the process.

The more important the lesson, the easier it is to forget.

Frequently we can be the same supporters and counselors to ourselves that we are to other people. When we are struggling with an issue or to live out the things we deeply believe, we need to pause to seek our own internal wisdom. If you are like me, many of the hardest experiences of your life have taught you important lessons that deserve to be remembered.

This week’s intention

This week, pause to consider if you are listening to yourself and taking your own advice? What are the things people seek your advice on and how well are you heeding your own instructions? Do you encourage others more than you encourage yourself?

My intention is to take my own advice.

If you journal, take some time to list out what you “know for sure” or frequently advise others on. How well are you integrating those ideas into your own life? Do you offer yourself the same level of grace, love, and support as you advise others to give themselves? If not, make time this week to be still so you can pray and mediate on your ability to trust and implement the things you already know to be true.

See you next week!

Working Whole is available on Amazon and all major online book retailers.

WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled 

#workingwholebook

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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You know how to spot and critique your failures; you track the things you messed up on, never got done, or haven’t gotten done yet. But what about your successes in life? Are you paying attention to the times when you get it right?

As many of you already know, my first book will be published tomorrow. It’s called WORKING WHOLE: How to Unite Your Spiritual Beliefs and Your Work to Live Fulfilled. This book is the culmination of four years of work (five, if you count the year I didn’t do anything except chastise myself for not getting started). What has held my attention over the last few years are the things that delayed writing, editing errors, and failed marketing efforts. But what should be holding my attention, this week especially, is the reality that something that didn’t exist previously—now does. No matter what happens next, that is worth celebrating.

We will never reach a final destination called “success”, so we better celebrate whenever we can.

This week’s intention

I’ll be quick this week, but celebrating our wins (big or small) is something that many of us need to spend extra time reflecting on.

My intentions is to recognize and celebrate my contributions to the world.

What have you used your talents and precious labor to create? This doesn’t have to be a tangible thing, like a book. It can be a work idea or volunteer project that you brought to fruition, a coworker that relies on you to keep them sane and competent, students you have taught and inspired, or clients that are better off because they interacted with you. What have you done well recently and have you really taken the time to celebrate it? If not, do it this week.

Cheers and see you soon!

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

 

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Nine years ago in the winter of 2010, I was going through a divorce. It was by far the hardest transition of my life. Sure, I left home for college and that was a difficult adjustment. Joining the workforce was also hard and motherhood changed me forever. But my divorce wasn’t a new adventure; it was a storm of anxiety, financial hardship, and shame.

More than anything else, getting through that time in my life toughened me up and taught me that my failures might lead to new and better dreams. But I’m also less afraid when pursuing these new goals because I’ve failed plenty in my life already—and it’s turned out just fine.

Your next plan might just be the better plan.

This week’s intention

“You can only go halfway through the darkest forest before you are coming out the other side,” or at least that is what the Chinese proverb says. I don’t remember exactly when I got to the middle of my dark forest and crossed over to the start of my new life. But if you happen to be stuck in the middle of a tough time right now, know that you may soon find yourself coming out on the other side as well.

My intention is to trust that my current situation is not permanent.

So this week, let’s pray for those going through a major storm in their life. If that is you, pray for yourself and pray for the ability to dream new dreams about what might come after this storm. If you’re not going through a storm right now, pray for those who are, reach out and check on them, and lend a helping hand wherever you can.

See you next week.

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

 

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Wouldn’t life be a whole lot easier if our daily activities were clearly marked as “practice” or “game time?” Athletes know when they are practicing and when they are playing in the actual game. Real life doesn’t work that way.

We tend to take our everyday moments of practice and constantly hold ourselves to the same standard as game day. We expect to excel at all times and feel disappointed when we aren’t prepared, make “rookie mistakes”, are in a period of recovery, or just fail to meet the mark. Yet we would never expect an athlete to be ready to perform at a high level without practice, and we shouldn’t expect it from ourselves.

The purpose of practice is to make mistakes and build skills.

This week’s intention

In my experience, what keeps people from hearing their callings more than anything else is a fear of practice. We want to pursue things we are already good at. We want to show the world our fully-developed abilities and are only willing to consider the paths we are skilled in.

My intention is to welcome opportunities to follow new callings and practice skills I do not have yet.

This week, place your attention on welcoming an uncomfortable opportunity to learn a new skill. Pray and mediate on your ability to feel spiritually whole enough to risk being seen in your moments of practice. Journal about your willingness to pursue things you are not good at, yet.

Are you being called to new levels of leadership, public speaking, art, counseling, educating, writing, or some other expansion of your skills? Are you willing to practice these skills so you’ll be ready when a big opportunity comes?

Play well and see you next week!

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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“Just be yourself.” Adults frequently say this to the children we love.

And we want them to take our advice and bravely grow up without losing the parts of their natural disposition and personality that we know to be unique, God-given, and sacred.

Yet they may find themselves rejected simply from taking our advice. They may boldly express their gifts only to be labeled as bossy, nerdy, silly, stupid, too loud, weird, or uncool in some other way.

When this happens to the children I love, I get angry. I beg them to not let anyone define how they show up in life. Deep down, what I really want is for them to never have to face rejection again. But I know that’s not how life works.

Rejection will happen and it will hurt.

This week’s intention

As adults, rejection hurts just as much. I still fear it and maybe you do too. I cringe at the idea that I might put my true self out into the world only to be judged or ridiculed. But my greater fear is that I will become too afraid to follow my callings because I’m trying to avoid rejection from the people I’m not meant to serve.

My intention is to accept the real and natural fear of rejection, but pursue my highest work anyway.

This week, I want you to journal and pray about your relationship with rejection. What are some of your earliest experiences with it? How did that shape who you are today? Does fear of rejection stop you from fully revealing and/or using any of your gifts? What does the world lose when you hold yourself back?

See you next week!

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.